Who Guards the Guardians
by Tenshi-Chan
Summary: There are some interesting side-effects to being a companion to the Doctor. Add that to a lifetime of believing makes Captain Jack Harkness able to befriend a kindred spirit.
1. Chapter 1

**Who Guards the Guardians**

A Torchwood / Rise of the Guardians crossover

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_**Author's notes**: Okay, so I recently saw "Rise of the Guardians" with my best friend, Keara, and new muses just popped up. Sorry about this. I have not abandoned, and will not abandon, my other stories. Hugs all around (except to Keara, because she doesn't do hugs. Cyber-cookies to her)!_

_**One final note**: There will, more likely than not, be no slash with Jack Frost. Yeah he was 18 when he died (According to the RotG Wiki), but there really seems to be no one I can comfortably pair him with._

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Prologue: Easter Sunday of 1968

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Jack Harkness stood in the middle of a large park that was covered with two feet of snow. It was a freak snowstorm that had happened just in the park and he'd been sent out to investigate it. He was to bring back the cause, if at all possible.

That's when he heard them.

"What are you on about, frostbite? I go crazy all year to get these bloody eggs decorated perfectly, and you go and cause a bloody blizzard!"

Laughter answered as the freelance Torchwood agent turned to watch the pair. He knew them both. In fact, he'd met them several times in his past, but this would be their first time meeting him.

"Awwww! Come on, you old kangaroo! It's not like I covered the whole world! I just covered this little park!"

Jack cleared his throat. "Excuse me!" He chuckled when he was met with identical shocked expressions. "Hello! Captain Jack Harkness! Sorry to bother you, but just to be sure ... you don't know me, right?"

The large rabbit shook his head. "Not a bloody clue, mate." He narrowed his eyes. "How can you see me? Usually, only the ankle-biters can see me, and that's only when I want them to."

Jack shrugged. "Travelled with the Time Lord known as the Doctor for a while." From the look on the large rabbit's face, he could tell he'd at least heard of the Doctor.

To Jack's delight, the rabbit reached out and took his hand. "Bloody hell, mate! Never thought I'd get the honor of meeting a companion! Like I said, most can't see me. What's he like? North has met him, and Sandy loves giving little mites dreams of travelling to the past to ride on dinosaurs!"

Jack chuckled. "He's ... unique."

The rabbit chuckled as well. "Right. May as well get introductions out of the way. I'm ..."

Jack smiled. "E. Aster Bunnymund. A.K.A. the Easter Bunny, or Bunny to your friends. This is not the first time I've met you." Then he took a breath and made the impact he knew would last well into the 51st century. "And you are Jackson Overland Frost. A.K.A. Jack Frost." He let his delight show on his face. "Oh, yeah, I know you. I always wondered when your first memory of me would coincide with my timeline." He reached out and caught the staff that Jack Frost had let slip before handing it back to the shocked young-looking man. "I gather you had something to do with this?"

"Yeah." Frost looked to Bunny. "NO ONE sees me, not even kids. What makes a ... a companion of this so-called Doctor Time Lord special?" His eyebrows furrowed. "What is a Time Lord, anyway?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Long story, and now is not the time. I need something to tell those morons at Torchwood so they don't come out hunting for you lot. They'll find something to use to be able to see you, and we really don't want that to happen."

Jack Frost bit his lip and hopped up.

Bunny watched him leave and then groaned when snow started to fall. "No! No no no no! Awww come ON!"

Jack had to admit that a large blizzard that started in a small area looked less suspicious than a small blizzard that was contained. He breathed a sigh of relief as Bunny ranted about ruined Easters. He knew that it would be long time before the Easter Bunny forgave Jack Frost for being the cause of the great blizzard of '68. It was better than the alternative.

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"The kangaroo is mad at me, you know."

Jack looked up as the very spirit of winter floated down. His cloak fluttering around him. "Sorry, but at least I was able to tell the people in charge that it was a freak blizzard and not the work of a being that they don't really believe in."

The boy with the old eyes looked at him. "Do you have time now? Sandy's been around the longest, but he doesn't actually speak. I kinda get the feeling that it'll take more than his sand pictures to tell me who the Doctor is."

Jack took in a deep breath and shook his head. "Come back in winter, Jack. I'll make sure I'm free on the 21st of December. It's too close to spring for you to still be here."

Eyes as blue as a clear winter sky regarded him, and Jack Frost nodded before letting the wind wisk him away.

Footsteps sounded behind him. "Talking to yourself, Harkness?"

Jack smiled and turned to the latest leader of Torchwood. "Do you see anyone else here? What do you need me to do?" He hoped it wasn't another assignment like the one 3 years previous. He still felt sick at the thought of handing children over to an alien race as if they meant nothing.

"Nothing planned, but I don't like it when you're out of sight for too long. You're not normal, Harkness, and I'd have you locked in one of the cells if it were up to me."

Jack smirked. "It isn't up to you, though." He strode towards the entrance to their underground base.

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**End of Prologue**


	2. Chapter 2

**Who Guards the Guardians**

A Torchwood / Rise of the Guardians crossover

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Part 1

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_December 21, 1968_

Jack took in a deep breath of the crisp winter air and smiled when a gentle snowfall started. "Right on time."

"Well it's not like I have a lot of pressing appointments." Jack Frost tilted his head. "So? How can you see me when no one else can? Who is the Doctor? What's a Time Lord? Why was Captain Kangaroo so thrilled at meeting a companion?" He paused for a moment before speaking again. "Just what IS a companion?" He looked about to ask more questions when Jack's snicker interrupted him.

"Captain Kangaroo? You ever call him that to his face?" The pair of them shared a grin before Jack motioned to a nearby bench and sat down. "One question at a time."

Rather than sit on the bench, the white-haired winter spirit perched on his staff. "How come you can see me?"

Jack pursed his lips and thought about the answer. "That's a difficult question to answer, but it's mostly because something about the Doctor's ship lets people see and hear in different ways." He smiled. "Why not take it like it is and accept that someone can see you, even if it isn't a child."

The young-looking spirit grimaced. "Yeah. I had hoped that I would be a bit more solid to people now, but no. They still pass through me like I'm not really there." He looked pained at the admission.

Jack nodded at him. "Well there's a reason for everything." He stretched a little and regarded the winter spirit. "Now ... let's see about me answering some of your other questions without me giving too much away."

The two of them spent the better part of the evening talking. Jack was unable to answer all of the questions put to him, but the older being seemed content just to have someone to talk to. Jack's only regret was that he couldn't give Frost an open invitation to visit whenever he wanted. He did work for Torchwood, after all. As he'd stated before, the bloodthirsty lot he worked for would love nothing better than to get their hands on a supernatural being that could create frost and snow at will. No matter that Jack Frost wasn't alien; He would still be seen as fair game to Torchwood.

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_1968-1999_

The two of them met up from time to time. Sometimes the winter spirit helped Jack in getting whatever alien or artifact he was after, and sometimes Jack stopped long enough to indulge in some wintery antics that made him feel decades younger. It upset him that only one of the Guardians seemed to make any time for the - for lack of a better term - kid, and that one never really spoke. Lonliness did terrible things to people.

"I'm contemplating trying to find this so-called boogeyman. Is he real?"

Jack looked up at the spirit and nodded. "Pitch Black is very real. There was a time, before the Guardians, when he was the big power. Now he's stuck skulking in shadows and giving the odd nightmare." He flicked some water at his companion and grinned when the droplets were turned into tiny spheres of ice that were too small to shatter when they crashed on the ground. "If you do go looking for him, be aware that you might have better luck making friends with a shark. He's been stuck in his position longer than you've been in yours, and he used to have believers, so he wasn't always invisible." He shrugged. "You should leave him be, but if you're determined, then I wish you luck with it." He stood up as Jack Frost left. He'd never met Pitch, but he knew the guy had a bad reputation. He wondered if people realized that fear had its own place in the grand scheme of things. He finished his water and headed for the location of his current assignment.

It was later that night when he learned the result of Jack Frost's curiosity. He was reading a book on his bed when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. "Don't you knock?"

"No reason why I should." Pitch Black scowled slightly. "Did no one ever tell you to not interefere with the personal affairs of other people?" The Nightmare King held up his hands. "Now ... I know it may have escaped your notice, but I rather enjoy my privacy." He lowered his hands and folded his arms to convey his annoyance. "I do not appreciate some snippet of a winter sprite barging in without so much as a by-your-leave."

Jack marked his place and turned to the tall anti-Guardian. "I did tell him to leave you alone, but I'm not always available for him to talk to. Kid gets lonely." He could understand that, and guessed that Pitch could, too.

Pitch let out an explosive breath. "You tell me this as if I should care." He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. "Well ... as I have nothing better to do most days, I suppose I could keep the child entertained." He let his hand fall and regarded the human immortal. "Sometimes, I just don't know what to make of you. Oh, I know of your work, but it seems contrary to your nature. I would never have thought that you, of all people, would actually think of encouraging someone to be friends with the '_boogeyman_'." He had done air quotation marks when he had said the name to which he was usually referred.

Jack simply shrugged. "You got stuck with a bum hand. It's not like you're evil, in and of yourself. You just project fear, and that's not a bad thing." He thought about what he had said. "Now ... fear mixed with stupidity is a bad thing, because that just leads to violence. If you're afraid, and smart about it, you come out stronger for it." That's how it had worked for him, at any rate.

Pitch took him in for a moment. "I don't say this often, mind, but I rather like you, Jack Harkness. You have your own darkness inside of you that's well balanced with your light." With that statement, the King of Nightmares melted into the shadow of his bed.

Jack had the sense that he'd just been paid a very high compliment. He glanced at the calendar and grinned. December 30, 1999. The 21st century was just a few days away, and that meant less than 100 years to wait for the Doctor.

The Doctor was going to come soon, he'd just been told that the Boogeyman rather liked him, his boss was not an evil overlord who wanted to either lock him in a cell or strap him to a table, and he was almost done with his current assignment. Things were looking good.

End of Part 1

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**Author's Notes:**

_Okay. Long story short, I tried to dictate to my muses what I was going to write, and when, and they did not like that. Many thanks to Keara who pointed out a few flaws in my continuity and one spelling issue (at one point, Jack Frost was a wither spirit). I promise all of my readers that I am still writing._

_I know I'm jumping around in these first couple of chapters. They're just for establishment of relationships._

_Regarding Pitch: I honestly don't see him as a bad guy. He's just acting out of sheer desperation in the movie. I've read up on his history and I just feel sorry for him. Also, if you look, there are subtle hints that he and Jack Frost know each other._

_I **MIGHT** bring in characters from the book series. Not entirely decided about that. I'd actually have to read the books before I can come to that decision. Right now, most of my knowledge of the books comes from the RotG Wiki. it's at .com._

_If anyone out there has any ideas for this fic, or any of my other fics, drop me a PM. Who knows? I might use it and give credit where credit is due._


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